1. “The Scarlet Letter”

2. Plot Overview
The Scarlet Letter takes place in the seventeenth century Boston, which was then a Puritan settlement.
A young woman Hester Prynne is escorted, from the town prison with her infant daughter Pearl.
Hester committed the sin of adultery, and refused to give the name of the man who she committed adultery with.

3. Plot Overview cont.
Hester wears the scarlet letter over her bosom for punishment and stands on the scaffold, to be publicly shamed and humiliated.
Hester’s Roger Chillingworth lived in Europe at the time of Hester’s sin of adultery, disguises himself as a doctor to discover Hester’s secret of who she committed the sin with.
Dimmesdale
Committed the sin of adultery with Hester
He deals with the impact of his sin by punishing himself physically and psychologically.

4. Themes, Symbols, Motifs Themes Sin, Evil, Identity
Example of Sin in the novel
Hester wears the Scarlet Letter upon her bosom has a punishment for her sin of adultery.
Example of Evil
Hester’s daughter Pearl is portrayed as a mischievous child, townspeople believe her father is the devil.
Engages in odd behavior dealing with her mother’s scarlet letter upon her bosom
“ …the infants eyes had been caught by a glimmering of the gold embroidery about the letter; and, putting up her little hand, she grasped at it smiling, not doubtfully, but with a decided gleam that gave her the look of a much older child.”

5. Symbols The Scarlet Letter
Meant to be viewed as a symbol of shame, however throughout the novel the symbol became a symbol of identity to Hester.
“ All the light and graceful foliage of her character had been withered away up by this red hot brand, and had long ago fallen away, leaving a bare and harsh outline, which might have been repulsive, had she possessed friends or companions to be repelled by it.
Pearl
Pearl is a symbol of the consequence of her mothers sin and the reason Hester decided to live.
“ Pearl” as being of great price, purchased with all she had,- her mother’s only treasure!..”

6. Motifs Motifs Night Versus Day
Daylight exposes Hester’s activities to make her more vulnerable to punishment.
“..they have doomed Mistress Prynne to stand only a space of three hours on the pillory…”
Night conceals activities that would not be possible throughout the day.
“And thus while standing on the scaffold, in this vain show of expiation, Mr. Dimmesdale was overcome with a great horror of mind, as if the universe were gazing at a scarlet token on his naked breast, right over his heart.
Dimmesdale was able to relieve the guilt of his sin without public shame by shaming himself upon the scaffold at night where no one could be a witness to his punishment he inflicted upon himself.

8. Sources Picture http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scarlet_Letter
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